Mork (nanu nanu) leads off.
I've got a baseball-adjacent question for you, Ken--what are your thoughts (if any) on baseball cards? Did you ever collect them, either as a kid or adult? Do you think they're good for the game, bad for the game, just plain dumb?
I loved baseball cards as a kid and had a big collection. Back in those days you couldn’t buy entire sets. You had to buy the gum (sugar-coated cardboard) and certain cards were rare and hard to get. You’d also end up with doubles and triples of cards. I think I had 12 Joey Jay, Milwaukee Braves cards one year.
But in my neighborhood you would flip cards. You and your opponent would stand at one end of a room and flip your cards against the opposite wall. Whichever card fell closet to the wall was the winner and you got to keep both cards. You would flip your doubles and triples in the hopes of getting a player you didn’t have.
Back before the internet, baseball cards were pretty much the only source of player statistics. And I would study them religiously.
Now baseball card collecting has become a business and to me that’s a shame. There’s an innocence to the hobby that’s lost.
But overall I still feel baseball cards are good for the game. Anything to promote interest in baseball is a good thing.
And finally, to all the moms out there, don’t throw out your kids’ baseball card collections. They will want them someday, trust me.
Brian Phillips asks:
What are some longest laughs from the studio audience that came from a Levine and Isaacs script?
In the first year CHEERS episode, “The Boys in the Bar” – where the regulars were worried the bar might go gay – we had a scene of Sam and Diane in the poolroom. Sam is trying to come to grips with the news that his roommate during his playing days was gay. At one point he says: “I shoulda known. One night we were in a piano bar and he requested a show tune.”
For some reason that got a thunderous laugh. The audience laughter was so long that director James Burrows cut the cameras to avoid wasting any more film.
When you have a joke that stops cameras – that’s the walk-off grand slam home run for comedy writers.
Mark has a question based on my glowing review of THE MIDDLE.
Given your love for the show back in 2013, did you get an immediate response from the makers of the show to either write or direct an episode?
I did get an immediate response from the showrunners thanking me, but no I was not approached to write or direct one. And that’s fine. I didn’t write my review with any hopes of getting an assignment. It was purely from the heart with no ulterior motives.
There’s talk of a spin-off starring “Sue.” I hope that happens. I’d much rather see that than a ROSEANNE spin-off.
And finally, from Mike Kaiser:
Hi, Ken-- All of these recent suicides got me thinking.... back in the day, was it the network censors that caused the TV version of the M*A*S*H theme to be aired without lyrics or was that a creative decision or something in between?
It was Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart’s decision never to air the lyrics. The lyrics do not at all reflect the tone or sentiment of the TV show. I applaud their decision and during my watch not once did we entertain airing the lyrics.
The lyrics are stupid and meant to be. Robert Altman’s teenage son wrote them. And ironically, his son has made more money off the royalties than his dad ever did directing the movie.
What’s your Friday Question? Leave it in the comments section. Thank you.
from By Ken Levine
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